Written by Greta Wilson
Professional photography by Jackie Wernberg Photography
My beloved Kerneelz, a.k.a. Chuck Norris, now a few months from entering his 15th year, is one-eyed and stone deaf, his snowy face endowed with a generous dusting of angel dust. Twice in the past six months-survivor of two different cancers, he’s frail (hind limb paresis weakness part paralysis), with limited vision in his remaining eye.
We so cherish our quality time together on slow, plodding dawn walk-sniffs. There’s something utterly extraordinary about our old dogs.
It’s a soulful experience. An honour, responsibility and privilege looking after their geriatric quirks and needs. Memory-making in the fresh air, one at-times wobbly paw forward at a time, interspersed with a fall here and there. A daily commitment to just keep moving is what it’s all about and I actively encourage dog parents to commit to daily walks and, for obvious reasons, ensuring their dog is at ideal weight than even marginally overweight. Muscle tone counts for a lot at Kerneelz’s age.
Still going strong
I was 38 when Kerneelz entered my life and he was eight weeks old. I’m about to enter my 53rd year and “Special K”, my original of six Boxers, is still going strong.
Thank heavens for his (Medipet) medical insurance. He’s needed it, as the past 10 months have seen him, in order of events: have a spleen removed (fortunately, a benign lesion); an eye removed (squamous cell carcinoma); various other lumps removed, all benign (I believe this is why he’s still alive as I’ve had a lifelong commitment to timeous vet care and lump removals); gastro followed by nearly dying from severe pancreatitis which required at-home subcutaneous drip infusions of Temgesic and Ringer’s Lactate; an ear infection; vestibular disease with a severe episode spanning several weeks (severely debilitating doggy vertigo made all the more complex by the fact that one can’t easily lift a large dog, although his special harness helped); part paresis (at first a “full-on” part paralysis of hind limbs, Kerneelz has regained dramatically improved use of those albeit weak legs thanks to a physiotherapy BackaBuddy); apocrine anal sac adenocarcinoma, fortunately seemingly removed with wide margins, but a 1 June CT scan will determine whether any micrometastases (this is a notably aggressive form of cancer). And, most recently, his remaining eye has been diagnosed with a cataract.
A forever friend
A lifetime of memories spanning ops on both cruciate ligaments by the time he turned two, selling my beloved Melkbosstrand home, two years in the Swartland that encompassed a year on a remote farm and a year at the coast at Yzerfontein, the return in 2013 to Cape Town, and subsequent burials over a period of time of four of my Boxers (Kerneelz literally covers them with his muzzle and snout and goes so far as to bark at them until the realisation kicks in that another sibling is permanently being returned to the earth).
Through all sorts of life and human disappointments he’s remained my steadfast friend. He’s a qualified pet-assisted therapy dog, but I decided he’s best left to gentle nature strolls. His gentle face washing, tail-wagging and beating heart in the dark of night all a constant reassuring presence in my life. He is, quite simply, my son.
Kerneelz is winking right back at you as you take in his handsome pirate face. What’s not to love, after all?
